disaster, sendai airport has now been transformed into an early sign of hope. >> we are following may job development in two of the world's hot spots after weeking of being outguns and maneuvered in libya. forces opposed the to moammar gadhafi again have the upper hand. and for the first time, plutonium is showing up in the soil. we'll have full coverage of both of these stories beginning right now with libya. now, more than ever, the fight for libya isn't just a civil war, it's a tug of war. after a week of allied air strike strikes fighters opposed to gadhafi regrouped and pushed tobacco with a vengeance.

they took back most of the ground gadhafi forces claim fld the past month. today they're poised to launch what could be their toughest battle yet for gadhafi's hometown of sirte. a victory there would be symbolically huge and geographically one giant leap towards tripoli. check out the map behind me. just about a month ago in the early days of the uprising, momentum was clearly with the rebels. the cities in green fell quickly. but then came the counter assault. gadhafi ad the weapons and will to remain in power no matter what. they were pushed back to their capitol of benghazi. this is the map today. town after town holding the lines at sirte. misrata, libya's third largest city, after many days of bombardment, libya's foreign ministry says calm has been

restored, but it's not clear what that means. reza sayah is following from his viewpoint in benghazi. it's been a remarkable weekend, wouldn't you say? >> it certainly has been. some remarkable progress made by opposition forces. but it looks like for the first time in three days they're getting some resistance from gadhafi forces. gadhafi loyalists. it is happening in the town of sirte. sirte, of course, gadhafi's hometown. his birthplace. he has a lot of family members, relatives, friends. not unusual they would give resistance to the rebel fighters. the op sags saying that's what they expected. rebel fighters telling cnn they tried to move into the city and faced some gunfire. they're not sure if it's coming from civilian who is are loyalists. things heating up in sirte.

in the meantime, about 225 miles west of sirte in the capitol of tripoli, another set of air strikes according to french officials. french fighter jets launching these air strikes, targeting what they're calling a command center. of course, it's been french jets, british jets and u.s. jets that have launched most of the air strikes. >> reza, we were told from the beginning that allied air pour power is only really protecting civilians. is that meaningful at this point? >> well, at this point there's no question. it's facilitating the push by the opposition forces west towards tripoli, the final destination. look at march 19th. that was the date when this no-fly zone was put in place.

that's when opposition forces started pushing west. on saturday the air strikes softened up the artillery units. then it was brega, ras lanuf. the first little bit of resistance. the air strikes are pivotal in the progress of the rebel forces. >> and nato is supposed to take control of the no-fly zone today and the whole operation by the end of the week. does this matter to the rebels? do they feel this is what's helping them? >> it will matter if the air strikes are deescalated. with nato taking control, there are some member states that are not as enthusiastic as others about the aggressive nar of the air strikes. if this new plan deescalates,

the aggressiveness of the air strikes if with see fewer air strikes, that is something the opposition forces woenlt like. they openly today in a news conference called for the air strikes to continue. >> all right. reza sayah there watching it all in benghazi. we'll talk with you again next hour. we'll speak to you then. we can't forget president obama addresses the nation on the u.s. role in the libya campaign. how it came to be and when it might end. the president speaks at 7:30 p.m. eastern time. but cnn's live coverage begins at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. be sure to join us for that. the fighting in yemen is escalating. medical officials say a powerful explosions at a weapons factory killed at least 121 people and injured 45 in southern yemen. islamic militants seized control of the plants and residents were lootding it when the blast occurred. this after months of demonstrations against yemen's president. and it's just the latest in an an intensifying battle between the government and the local al

qaeda group. says he's holding onto power, arguing he's best equipped to fight off islamists. a syrian official says the reuters producer and camera men were contained two days because they lacked a work permit and filmed the wrong prear. in the meantime, security forces flooded two syrian cities today. officers patrolled the streets and shielded government buildings against protesters. witnesses say forces marched into the main square of one of the cities early this morning. firing shots in the air and turning water cannons on protesters. they say at least 37 people have died since last week. the senate is back in session today. the house reconvenes tomorrow with less than two weeks to go before a possible government shutdown, the budget battle is the big issue on the agenda.

both sides far apart on spending cuts. the government runs out of money on april 8th if they don't pass the continuing resolution first. they've done six of those so far. experts say the nuclear crisis in japan may be at a turning point for the worse. high levels of radiation in the ocean and the air. now plutonium in the soil. what this all means next. ♪ ♪

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we're still getting new powerful video reminding us of the tsunami's force devouring cities along the coast. this is what happened in sendai, the epicenter of the earthquake. we had alarming signs the nuclear crisis in japan may be getting worse. tokyo electric is finding plutonium in the soil around the fukushima nuclear plant. experts say it could be a turning point for the worse. there's increasing concern highly radioactive water is escaping and may be leaking into the ocean. the concern senters around a turbine building connected to reactor two. the water in a tunnel there is at least 100,000 times more radioactive than normal. officials say they are still trying to find the source of that leak. on top of that, japan's nuclear agency says the tests show high levels of radiation in the ocean

and in the air near the reactors. sea waters in limpbt locations offshore had radiation levels as high as 1,850 times the normal amount. we have an expert on national safety here to talk about this. we're just learning about finding the plutonium in the soil. can you put this in perspective for snus. >> this starts to become relevant to the chernobyl days. that was one of the most horrible things i experienced in the plutonium fields. we still don't know in the reactor. >> what could it mean in the soil? >> well, it means something is getting out of the reactor core there. the plutonium in unit three, they had ha mix of plutonium and your yan yum in. that means it's gotten out either in the water or a reactor core breach. it's not a good development.

>> i want to ask you about grease peace, now in japan. we spoke with a nuclear expert on sunday, cnn did. let's listen to what their expert had to say and then we'll ask you another question about that. >> the population would get above the maximum allowed annual boast in just a few days. and we strongly recommend the government to help those people to relocate to another place. >> okay. so we're talking about people, about 45 kilometers, not even 30 miles away tr the plant being exposed to levels of radiation they would normally get in about a year in just a few days. so how reliable are the green peace tests versus what japan officials are saying? >> i'm all in favor of having checks and balances in the system. the reason chernobyl happened in russia because there was no environmental movement. it was just a totalitarian state

there. so it's good to have checks and balances there. i've been very disappointed in the amount of information coming out of the japanese government coming out of the nuclear reactor company there. >> can we trust what they're telling us? >> right now i'm depending on the numbers i get from the united states nuclear regulatory commission. lately i guess to have a little good news, some of the numbers coming out of the japanese government have been a little more dependable than in the past. in the first week it was very poor. >> i want to ask you about seafood coming from japan. hong kong has already banned imports of seafood. how concerned should we be hearing about the radio an acti material getting into the ocean? >> the good news here, if there is any good news, is when radioactive particles get into the water, they go down into

sediments. the water becomes a protective barrier to protect you on top. only 1% stays in the water column. right now i don't see an immediate threat to the seafood area. but it's a bad development. this is a turning point. finally it's getting into the ocean. it's not a good thing. it's going in a bad direction. >> would you eat seafood from japan right now? >> i would. but if you ask me in a week, i might change my answer. >> really appreciate your expertise. thank you. >> thank you. japan's nuclear disaster is no laughing matter for european broadcasters taking a closer look at episodes of "the simpsons." homer works at a nuclear power plant. and let's say safety suspect job number one. networks in germany, switzerland

and austria want to make sure an episode featuring a meltdown never airs. go to our blog and share our thoughts. you can post on his facebook and twitter accounts. we'll share your comments later on in the show. in less than an hour, one of the nation's most popular news websites will start charging readers. is this a site that you visit?

u. welcome back a big change for news consumers who rely on "the new york times" website and new york times mobile apps. the news will no longer be free for frequent users. starting in less than an hour from now, if you click on more than 20 articles in just one month, the times will require a subscription. senior correspondent allan chernoff joins us from new york to explain more about this. hi there, allan. >> hi, randi. a lot of new york times readers used to pay for this. they've been reading the same content on this. the freebie days are over. after 20 clicks the times will start charging $15 online and $20 every four weeks if you want to read on a to be let like this. "the new york times" is trying to harn esz a force that has been wrecking the newspaper business, free access on the internet. they plan to walk a fine line to

generate subscription revenues from avid readers willing to pay while still retaining casual customers who boost advertising revenues with their click. the times believes the fine line is 20 articles every four weeks. we're as confident as we can possibly be in a research setting. whenever research hits the real world, there are changes. >> whatever the right number of clicks is, the times intends to become the largest general interest newspaper to emulate what business paper, the wall street journal and financial times have done. collect subscription fees for online customers. >> when i say it's a bet on the future we want to maintain a robust newsroom full of talented journalists. in order to do that, it seems sinceable to ask for some readers to pay for it. >> as newspapers have given away their product for free online,

paper subscriptions and advertising have dropped. the prestigious times is no exception. if online web advertising has steadily the grown, that hasn't made up for the drop in print revenue. they need a second stream of online revenue. executives believe now is the right time to start charging. >> a few things have changed recently. one is people are more used to paying for digital content with the advent of apps and app stores. >> still the times anticipates the vast majority of online readers will never hit the payroll. they hope they will start reaching into the wallet just like they used to for the daily newspaper. we'll see what happens. this is very, very important for the future of the news business. not easy to get anyone to pay

for something they usually get for free. >> what about the crossword puzzles? we have to pay for that now? >> well, actually, if you want the cross word puzzles on a daily basis you already have to pay. they charge $40 a year for the crossword premium. the crossword junkies are already used to this. allan chernoff, thank you so much. be sure to join christine romans for your got tom line each saturday morning at 9:30 eastern. and don't miss "your money" with ali velshi saturdays at 1:00 p.m. eastern. and it is time for top stories. libyan rebels are pushing west toward moammar gadhafi's hometown of sirte. reported victories in ras lanuf and el-brega over the weekend. tonight president obama goes on

tv to explain the mission in libya and the the u.s. role. watch it live here on cnn. the u.s. supreme court reject ad georgia man's request to delay his execution. the justices turned aside two separate appeals from troy davis without comment today. davis was convicted of killing a savannah police officer. he claims he can prove he's innocent. high residential vacancies are making it hard to sell homes. the national vacancy rate hit 13%. that's up from 12.1% in 2007. president obama is ready to spell tout the u.s. role in the uprising. coming up, our ed henry will tell us what we can expect to hear. stay right there. ed.

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but when you bundle them all together with nationwide insurance... ... they all work together perfectly-- and you could save 25%. wow... it's all in the wrists. ♪ nationwide is on your side the u.s. played a big role in the libya uprising since firing the first cruise missiles a little more than a week ago. president obama faced much krits schism over the decision. tonight we'll hear from the president. cnn will bring you his address live at 7:30 p.m. eastern. senior white house correspondent ed henry joins me at this time every day. what would you say we're expecting to hear from the president tonight? >> my colleague dan lothian said this morning one thing to look at is the timing. it's not by accident the president picked tonight to do this. in recent days you had the transition where nato said

they're going to take control of the no-fly zone. that backs up the president's promise that it would be days, not weeks, where the u.s. would be in a lead role. and there was so much pressure on him in recent days to give a speech like this. they wanted to wait until nato really did take that lead role. and at least show that commitment. but i think having said that, and even though nato is now stepping up, this president has a lot of work to do tonight. i was talking to a democratic strategist this morning who was telling my they got spooked inside the white house late last week when john boehner fired off this letter to this the president with something like 16 questions about how are you going to pay for it? what is the end game? what spooked the white house is not that john boehner wrote the white house. it's expected the republican leader will be tough on the white house. what spooked them is how democrats on capitol hill said john boehner has a point.

they have grown worried. democrats on hill usually on their side saying we were caught off guard by how quickly this happened and not enough questions have been answered. got to answer those tonight, randi. >> and has the president been relying on anyone in particular for advice in libya? >> there's no doubt he's been relying on defense secretary gates and secretary of state clinton. when you show their comments for the sunday shows yesterday it was clear secretary gates was saying this was not necessarily the direct interest of the united states to intervene. but stfs still important to prevent a larger humanitarian crisis. he was acknowledging there that maybe this was not in the direct strategic interest of the united states. giving critics fodders to say

why did we step in? >> ed, i have to ask you about this. there's a story about a reporter with the orlando sentenal being sequestered in a storage closet. he was kept in there until the vice president spoke. has this happened to you? >> reporter: this is very unusual. it has me a little spooked here. i don't want to get thrown in a storage closet. he was sort of the reporter representing the rest of the media at the fund-raiser the vice president was attending. he said it spun out of control. it wasn't quite as small a closet as people thought. it was larger. there was a table and chair for him to sit at. there was light in there. there was a window. >> it's a still closet. >> you're right. the vice president's office has apologized. and i think that while maybe it

got out of control and maybe challenge rated on the internet, on the other hand, it's a bad idea for any politician, especially the vice president, to have a reporter stuck in any sort of cloz el when they're trying to cover a fund-raiser. it's pretty awkward. i they they got a black eye about this. i can guarantee the vice president will not do this again. this was a big pr hit for them. they won't let it happen again. >> beware of closets around the white house. >> reporter: i'll be on the look jut. >> we'll see you later. thanks, ed. watch cnn for live coverage of the president's speech tonight. you can see it right here at 7:30 p.m. eastern time. a drug resistant infection is spreading. where it's showing up and who is at risk right after a quick break. ♪ stay inside? nah. not when you have a five-star overall vehicle score for safety.

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now a look at news you may have missed. president obama explains the goals and scope of the libyan mission tonight. he'll speak to the american people from the national defense university in washington. cnn's live coverage begins right here at 7:00 p.m. eastern. the next target is moammar gadhafi's hometown. they're moving west to sirte where they expect a bloody battle for control. opposition fighters sweptd out of benghazi in the east and reclaimed towns they recently lost to gadhafi forces. their ultimate goal is the capitol, tripoli. three types of plutonium have turned up neurofoouk shar fukushima nuclear plant. the discovery poses no risk to human, but they'll monitor the situation. plutonium can be a serious health hazard if inhaled or

digested. a super bug is spreading through los angeles county nursing homes and hospitals. the potentially deadly bacteria is called crkp, and it's resistant to antibiotics. health officials saw more than 350 cases during the last half of last year. most occurring in the elderly. drs. say the best way to prevent the spread is through the washing of hands. straight ahead, the largest private employer in america at the highest court in the land. we'll fr

welcome back. every case at the supreme court is big. every decision important. but this is an especially big

and important week. tomorrow the court hears arguments in a sex discrimination case against wal-mart. just the name wal-mart tells you this is a big case. it's been building since 2001, and whatever the court decides could potentially affect every employer in america. today they up a finance case in arizona that could change the way elections are bankrolled. cnn's senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin joins me from the courthouse steps or close by anyway. let's start with the arizona case. what is the issue there? >> well, arizona set up a system where there was a kind of public funding that if one side in an election was spending a lot of money, the other side got some public money. that's a simplification of what the arizona law said. it seemed very clear the court was going to strike this gown. just like it struck down part of the mccain feingold law in the

citizens united case. they want to deregulate election elections. >> so could this spell the end of public financing of elections? >> we are headed that way. it's not politically popular for congress or state legislatures to have public financing, and the court is pushing in that direction. basically saying that any sort of regulation of campaign potentially violates the first amendment. we are very much moving in that direction with the supreme court as it's currently constitute d. >> tomorrow's argument in the wal-mart case are not on the merits of the case itself. this is all about whether or not

they can bring the class action? >> correct. early in the '90s a group of lawyers recognized that 80% of the hourly workers at walmart were women, and about 30% of the management were women. they decided this was systematic discrimination. all the hourly worker who is are women could be in a class action. could sue walmart for potentially many billions of dollars on the grounds they were discriminated against. this centersing on whether a group this big, whether millions of women can constitute a class action, or whether that's simply too big for the legal system to manage, and the cases of the individual women are all too different from one another. to be in the same lawsuit. >> jeffrey, you know the court well. you've written books about the

supreme court. now with three women justices, how receptive do you think they'll be to the claim? >> i think unreceptive. one of the touchstones of this court, this current supreme court has been they have been very rep septemberive to corporations, to the chamber of commerce. to all the groups on the defense side here. and relatively unsympathetic to women claiming discrimination. the famous ledveter case to which they threw out a case on the grounds the woman plaintiff had not filed it within the statute of limitations. this is in that tradition. the three women who tend to be on the more liberal side will be outvoted by the conservative majority. i would not be surprised at all if this case was thrown out of court after tomorrow's argument. >> that is very interesting.

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the fate of an american jailed in cuba may rest in the hands of former president jimmy carter. he arrived in cuba on a three-day private visit. he's expected to discuss bilateral relations with fidel castro and other top officials. he may raise the sticky issue of allen gross, sentenced to 15 years in prison for alleged subversive activities. shasta darlington joins us from hac havana. what is mr. carter doing at this hour? >> well, he arrived about two and a half hours ago with his wife. they arrived at the international airport where they were greeted by cuba's foreign minister. it was a sufficient affair. he handed over flowers, and then they took off in cars. right now he should be on his way to meet with u.s. diplomats. from there he'll go onto see

religious leaders, both jewish leaders, catholic leaders. as you mentioned, this is a private, nongovernmental visit. nonetheless, expectations are high that carter will try to secure the early release of allen gross. he was arrested in 2009 but only sentenced this month to the 15 years that you mentioned. that's because cuba views that he was doing illegal subversive work, connecting cubans to the internet, but with the ultimate goal of basically undermining and destabilizing the government. washington insists, however, that he was just trying to help the islands' small jewish community connect to the internet, and in fact, the u.s. secretary of state, hillary clinton, called carter just before his betdeparture to talk about the issues. today after these meetings. tomorrow he'll meet with the cuban president, raul castro, and in fact, that's when these kinds of issues could start to come up. but we won't know what the outcome is until the press conference on wednesday. it is an interesting moment in

cuban history, though. just to point out that castro has introduced pretty sweeping economic reforms. basically allowing more private enterprise, more small businesses and just last week, cuba released the last of 75 dissidents arrested in a huge crackdown on the opposition in 2003. that was considered a major obstacle to improving ties, randi. >> i'm curious about the visit. this is a private business. but did he confer with the obama administration on making this trip? besides hillary clinton? >> right. of course it was announced just a short while ago. it was announced on friday. really without any details given. sort of one photograph description from the carter center. the cuban government didn't announce it until today. the context of the economic reforms of the prisoners being free sd important. but it's natural people jump to

the conclusion that they'll look at the allen gross case. and it's pretty significant, randi. >> shasta, we'll leave it there. thank you. 43 minutes past the hour. here's a check of the top stories. >> >> part of today's fighting has centered on the main road leading into sirte. over the weekend rebels seize ad number of coastal towns and oil installation. the white house says president obama will give a televised speech tonight on his case for u.s. involvement in libya. he's expected to talk about nato's decision to take command of military operations, including air strikes on the ground. the white house also says the president will discuss u.s. policy from here on in. the speech is set to start at 7:30 p.m. eastern. cnn plans live coverage, that begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. join us u then. in yemen, an explosion killed

more than 120 people today. it was raided by islamic militants yesterday. yemen was rocked by weeked of anti-government protests, demanding that president al-assala step down. we have big news today in the land of google. google and mastercard are teaming up for mobile payment technology. you wave your cell phone in front of a device at the store to pay for whatever you're buying. how cool is that? it's another way google is branching out to other industries. the face of google is changing as well. the new ceo takes over for eric schmidt. he was profiled by "fast company" magazine. he joins us live to talk about this. farad, nice that you're joining us. in your profile of larry page you called him personally reserved, geeky and said to be

introverted. what is his strategy, do you think, expected to be? >> yeah, this was interesting about larry paige. he's very different from the old ceo of google, eric schmidt who had a public face. he's very different from how we think of ceos. we think of them as outgoing and extroverted. that'll be more focused on revitalizing internal processes and making the company much more entrepreneurial. as a result, i think we'll see them taking aim at competitors. they're working on it. kind of as a tactic for the iphone. they're working on a music streaming service they want to add to the mobile systems, to

android, which is also going to perhaps debut before that does. they're going to ramp up the aim at the competitors in the space where it's been seen lately that they may have been a little slow, a little soft doing that. >> right. >> what kind of changes do you expect people at home to see in terms of the products? any big changes with page taking over? >> i don't think we'll notice changes immediately. the google search engine or android phones or other things change immediately. what we will notice is gradually over time, they're going to -- they're going to revitalize many of the product lines. on the web, i think we will notice a lot more social networking features. being added to the search engine. to various other -- gmail and other various products. for example n the search engine

you may notice that when you search for something it will start to highlight links that your friends put out on facebook or on twitter. they'll add those. they'll add more emphasis to those. >> i want to ask you about the ups and downs we've seen with mobile phones. also google was shut down on the idea of putting out of print books online. the google music app is being tested now. if you look at the brands owned by google, so what would you say in just 30 seconds or so the future of google looks like? >> what we have noticed with google is they're going everywhere. they're aiming to be in kind of every way we interact with digital technology. that will continue. you mentioned the books program. they got shot down in the courts. but i don't think they're going

to stop the effort to digitalize books. we're going to notice them more and in more and more parts of our lives. certainly. >> thank you so much. interesting discussion. and, of course, you can check out the complete article in "fast company." head to cnn.com/ali. college basketball's march madness rolls on. we are down to four teams. what is ahead?

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welcome back. it's time to take a few minutes to chat about something millions of americans talk about this time of year. march madness. let's bring in matt winer for a deeper look at the tournament. good to see you. >> you as well. >> how unusual is it, no number one or number two moving to the final four. >> it's historical. the ncaa started seeding teams in 1979. since the time, this is the third time there hasn't been at least a number one seed and the first time ever not a one or two seed in the final four, which means thee receipt cli the eight best teams in perceived strength coming in are no longer playing.

never happened. >> a lot of great stories. four unlikely you see. >> very much. butler and vcu are the two cinderella stories. look at the other two teams, sort of brand name teams, power programs in uconn and kentucky, but uconn finished ninth in the big east in the regular season, lost four of their last five before the big east tournament. they get on a role and win five games in five days, nine games in 19 days, which is unbelievable. kentucky, this is the 14th time in the final four for that program, historically great program, but the first since '98. and this time last year they lost a round earlier than where they've already gotten to right now, then lost five players to the first round of the nba draft. you just don't survive that loss of talent and come back to the final four. those two teams are power programs. then you look at butler and vcu. butler last year came within a desperation heap of maybe the

biggest upset in ncaa history in the championship game. they lose their best player to the nba and somehow make it back to the final four. and vcu is an 11 seed into the final four. i'll tell you how unlyingly there were. their conference, the colonial athletic association, was ranked tenth in the country. they finished fourth in their conference in the regular season and unlike most teams who gather on selection sunday to see where they're going to be placed, they didn't even bother to show up. they didn't think they'd be in the tournament and wound up winning five to get to the final four. >> who's your new pick to win it all? kentucky was your pick. >> it was kansas. kansas lost yesterday to vcu. i have no idea what i'm doing, no one else does either. that's the beauty of march madness. if i have to take a stab and you're telling me i do, i would say uconn now. i like the momentum they have. walker, a senior guard is spectacular. >> a little easier to pick your winner now. >> i have a 25% chance now.

>> i'm writing it down. uconn. matt, great to see you. >> you, too. from basketball games to political gamesmanship. the senate is back today, the house tomorrow. the big issue for both is the budget. still no movement as another deadline for a government shutdown looms. dana bash joins me from capitol hill for a political update. hi, dana. what's on the ajendz da. >> reporter: hi, randi. as you said, it's keeping the government running. we've reported a lot over the past couple of months about the threat of a government shutdown and because of the differences that both parties have about how much to cut federal spending. but each time the deadline has loomed, they've come to a short-term agreement to keep the government running. now sources in both parties say that they really do see the possibility, more real than ever, that the government should shut down. look at the calendar, randi. i'll show you why i'm talking about this. there are only 11 days before

april 8th. april 8th is the next deadline for the government to shut down. from what i'm told sources in both parties have said that negotiations to get to the bottom of this, to fund the government for the rest of the year, have been pretty rocky. democratic sources say that republicans, particularly on the house side, simply are under so much pressure to not give too much on cutting spending because that that simply they say was the reason why house republicans were given the majority. that's a problem that democrats say they have. in fact, i'm told today that senior democrats have not that they want to give republicans to cut, $20 billion in addition to the 10 billion that the congress has already cut. they say they can't even get to the table with republicans because they're not ready to ne goekt. two sides to the story. lks say that's not true. they're waiting for the democrats to come for an offer. that gives you a sense of how rocky the talks are. it will be interesting to see if

the principals, the vice president and others, step in and sit at the table themselves. >> thank you, dana. your next update from the best political team on television is one hour away. >> p of after the break, we're telling you about facebook depression. that's right, pediatricians are now talking facebook depression with kids. we'll explain what this is all about, coming your way next. [ woman ] bathing suits!

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pediatrics is calling on doctors to ask their younger patients about, get this, something they're calling facebook depression. according to time, the causes include cyberbullying and constantly hearing about peers' happy status. the aap says that heavy users of facebook may begin to feel like they don't measure up by comparison. if you want to read more about this, we'll link you to the entire story on cnn.com/ali. we're following major developments in two of the world's hot spots. after weeks of being outgunned and outmaneuvered in libya, forces opposed to moammar gadhafi again have the upper hand. for the first time since the fukushima nuclear plant fell victim to tsunami, plutonium is showing up in the soil. we begin with libya. more than ever now, the libyan unrest isn't just a civil war. it's a tug-of-war. after a week of allied air

strikes aimed at protecting libyan civilians, fighters opposed to longtime dictator moammar gadhafi regrouped and pushed back with a vengeance. in the space of a weekend, they took back moist of the ground that gadhafi forces claimed in the past month. today they're poised to launch what could be their toughest battle yet, for gadhafi's hometown of sirte. a victory there would be huge, a giant leap toward tripoli. check out this map behind me. just about a month ago in the early days of the uprising, momentum was clearly are the rebels. the cities that you see here in green actually fell quickly, but then came counterassault. after 40-plus years in power, gadhafi had the weapons, the organization, and the will to remain in power no matter what. regime opponents were pushed back to their unofficial capital benghazi. now take a look at this. here's the map today. town after town in the east in rebel hands, gadhafi forces holding the line for now at least at sirte.

we've heard accounts of rebels pulling back under fire in one case under forces who waved a white flag signifying surrender. cnn's war damon is in the rebel-held town of ras lanuf. she joins me by the phone. arwa, can you set the scene for us there? >> reporter: yeah, randi. what we're beginning to see here are just how the dynamics of the battlefield are shifting as these opposition forces push towards gadhafi's hometown and an area that is filled with gadhafi loyalists. now, the forces got to an area called um al gundel 60 miles to the west of sirte. we were tailing behind them when all of a sudden we noticed them streaming down the highway beating a hasty, chaotic retreat, firing their 50-caliber machine guns into the air, firing all sorts of small arms fire. when the situation finally came under control, quite a distance from what the front line was, one of the fighters told us that when they went into this area

they began searching homes and noticed that residents were armed with new weapons they say were given to them recently by gadhafi's forces. they say that they began to negotiate with the residents, trying to convince them to come over to the opposition's side, when a number of residents opened fire on them. bearing in mind, randi, they said there were families in this area as well. the opposition claims that it then decided to retreat because they did not want to take part in a pitched gun battle that could cause civilian casualties. as they were beating their retreat, they say they came under an intense hail of bullets. they say they're going to try to regroup, try to go back in, hope the civilians there have clear out. what we're really seeing is the shift in the battlefield, shift in dynamics. this is significantly turning more and more into a street to street running gun battle as the forces turn into sirlt at the. >> how far do you think they'll get when you see residents being

armed? they don't know who is friend or foe. is their plan still to make it to tripoli? >> reporter: it's still their plan, but the realization is sinking in this is going to be much tougher than what they expected. a lot of what they were banking on is residents in these areas as they pushed westward would side with the opposition. if this one small area is anything to go by, it does seem gadhafi loyalists are willing to push the opposition forces out, fight against the opposition forces. this of course creates an entirely new dynamic because as this turns into more and more of a street warfare, in this case, what is the coalition going to do? the opposition forces only got this far because of the air strikes that really took out a number of gadhafi's tanks, heavy armor, forced his troops back. but now that this is going to turn into a literal battle for each and every city and town, it would seem, that's going to pose an entirely new set of challenges, especially since the opposition says it doesn't have

the weapons or equipment to engage in proper warfare, never mind the traiping. >> cnn's arwa damon for us in ras lanuf. we want to take you a bit up the road to reza sayah in benghazi. reza, a remarkable weekend. certainly a lot of progress as the rebels push westward. >> reporter: yeah. they almost made it look easy over the past three days, gaining about 200 miles in territory, capturing about five cities. today was the first time in those 72 hours where they faced some resistance, some fights from the gadhafi forces in the town of sirte. i believe you just spoke to our correspondent arwa damon, i'm not sure how much of the details she provided for you. but apparently in sirte -- this is gadhafi's hometown -- gadhafi loyalists and forces using

subterfuge to fight off the rebel fighters, telling cnn that gadhafi forces are arming civilians, one rebel fighter telling cnn that he and a group of other fighters were approaching gadhafi forces who were waving a white flag suggesting that they were done fighting, that they were surrendering. but as they were approaching them, this rebel fighter said, gadhafi forces fired on them, killing some of the opposition. that's the type of resistance they're facing in sirte. of course, this is gadhafi's hometown. he has family members there, friends. the tribe is based out of there. the first tough fight really randi in the past 72 hours for this opposition. >> what about in terms of the organization of the rebels is? t they've been painted as this ragtag group. do you sense ne type of political organization being formed among them?

>> reporter: well, you have the fighters. on the other hand, you have the government, the transitional government. they're pretty much a hodgepodge mix as well. they are prominent figures, think a they are politicians, military leaders who have said they are going to form the government once the regime is toppled. they say they're going to trash the constitution and going to have a democracy. now, it's not clear how easy this is going to be, considering this is a country made up of a patch work of sects and tribes that have never really tasted modern democracy. but this transitional government is saying the right things, essentially, trust us, but really not clear what happens if and when gadhafi falls, what type of government is going to be in place. that's what kweconcerns the international community. >> rez aza sayah with the lates allize on libya. we want to remind you that

president obama will address the nation tonight on the u.s. role in the libya campaign, how it came to be and when it might end. he speaks at 7:30 p.m. eastern. cnn's live coverage begins 7:00 a.m./4:00 pacific. a powerful explosion in yemen destroys a weapons factory. officials say the blast killed at least 121 people and injured 45 in southern yemen. islamic militants had seized control of the plant and residents were looting it when the explosion occurred. this all comes after months of demonstrations against yemen's president ali abdullah saleh, just the latest in the intensive fight against the government and group. saleh says he's best to fight off islamists. two syrian cities were flooded as they attempt to break up antigovernment protests. this is the scene from daraa. the situation is extremely tense as protests continued, officers patrolled the streets and protected government buildings.

witnesses say forces marched into the main square. one of the cities earlier this morning, firing shots in the air and turning water cannons on the protestors. at least 37 people have died since last week. in the meantime, two reuters journalists mission in syria are now free. the official and cameraman were detained two days because they lacked a work permit and filmed in a prohibited area. both are lebanese nationals and returned safely today. some alarming signs out of japan. high levels of radiation in the ocean and the air. and now plutonium in the soil. experts say these are signs the nuclear crisis is reaching a turning point for the worse. we'll get you the facts and the latest update next. le announcer] america's beverage companies are working together to put more information right up front. adding new calorie labels to every single can, bottle

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take a look at this video. it's been more than two weeks and we're just getting this new video in. this is what happened to a town north of sendai, the epicenter of the earthquake. another powerful reminder of the tsunami's destructive fury as it consumed cities along japan's coast. wow. that tsunami awaken a nuclear crisis in japan. experts say there are signs the crisis may be reaching a turning point for the worse. we're getting a steady stream of new developments out of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant

right now. the latest, workers at the fukushima plant were able to get xernlt power to reactor number three, key to restoring the cooling smg. but troubling news as well today. tokyo electric tested the water rs air and ground near the plant. it says it is finding plutonium in the soil. on top of that, the water in a tunnel connected to reactor two is at least 100,000 times more radioactive than normal. officials say they are still trying to find the source of the leak. but area pjapan's nuclear agenc say the ocean and soil tests high. seawater in different locations offshore had radiation levels as high as 1,850 times the normal amount. so let's talk about this. let's bring in maria coursenick, on expert in the nuclear industry. she joins us from d.c. thanks for being with us. when you hear what as happied, that tokyo electric has found three types of plutonium in the

soil around the plant, what does this tell you? >> hi, randi. thanks. i don't think we should be overly alarmed by what we're hearing. obviously they've been spraying the spent fuel pools as we've seen on television. this likely could be the source of what's being noted right now. and the good things is they are out, monitoring, they are looking and will take the appropriate actions. >> in a case like this, though, we're getting so many mixed messages and a lot of people don't know what to believe. tokyo electric is under fire right now about just how accurate their radiation tests are. so green peace is now in japan doing its own tests. we actually spoke with green peace's nuclear expert on sunday. i want you to hear what he had to say. then i'll get your response. >> so the population would get above the maximum allowed annual dose in just a few days, and we strongly recommend the government to remember tho-- he

those people relocate to another place. >> this is a really important finding. people about, what, 30 miles or so away from the plant being exposed to levels of radiation they would normally get in about a year are getting it now in just a few days. we have to ask, how reliable do you think these tests are? >> yeah. again, i would look to the international atomic energy agency as well as the world health organization in this case. they are working with the government in japan, and you're going to see very organized -- they monitor the information very closely and there's preestablished guidelines very much like we would have in the united states before any action is taken. and they're demonstrating that they're taking this type of action. you've seen that with previous evacuations, with recommendations they've given on spinach and drinking water and milk, et cetera. so i have confidence that the iaea along with the government of japan is working hand in hand

to appropriately inform the public there. >> so let me ask you about this concern. a lot of people talking about and wondering about seafood from japan. hong kolonhong kong has ban the it. how concerned are you about that? is the seafood safe do you think with radioactive material heading into the soil and water? >> there's obviously very well established methods for them to monitor. you mentioned that there was something in the water close to the plant. they're also monitoring several miles away from the plant. those are well below regulated limits. but they take into account the fact that it's going to get into the water like this, that's t's going to work its way through the ecosystem. and there's predetermined measurements for them to take, and if it's appropriate for them to quarantine the seafood and not allow it to be sold, again, that's very well established. in fact, it's very similar to

what happened in the gulf crisis for us, when there was oil in the water. >> all right, maria korsnick, thank you. >> thank you. the black-eyed peas are dedicating their latest video "just can't get enough" to the people of japan. they were in tokyo a week before the deadly earthquake and tsunami and are asking fans to help in this "impact your world." >> i was just blown away because we were just there. we were just with friends there in japan walking around, filming our video in the beautiful streets of tokyo. ♪ i just can't get enough >> you first went there, we fell in love with japan. >> i want to encourage everybody to help out. >> let's take care of those who have lost family members, those children who are out there stranded who have lost their parents. this video now is dedicated to japan and all of its beauty and all of its people.

>> and for more ways to help, cnn is launching a new high-tech way for smartphone users around the world to take immediate action. scan this image with your smartphone to load our impact your world web site. you'll find links to charities helping disaster vekts in japan. japan's disaster is no laughing matter for european broadcasters who are now taking a closer look at episodes of the "simpsons." as any fan of the show knows homer works at a nuclear power plant and let's say safety not job number one. networks in germany, switzerland and austria want to mike sure an episode featuring a meltdown never airs. go to our blog if you want to comment on this. cnn.com/ali. you can share your thoughts and also post on ali's facebook and twitter accounts and share your thoughts with me as well on facebook and twitter. we'll share your comments right after this break.

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now back to the story of some european countries pulling jokes about nuclear power plants out of old episodes of "the simpsons." we asked for your input and

definitely got it. joe posted this on facebook -- many people may argue that political correctness has gone too far and in some cases this may be true. yet we need to be careful that in compensating for this correctness we don't forget how to recognize a simple act of consideration. savannah disagree -- this isn't the first nuclear disaster. if jokes on the subject are going to be deemed inappropriate, it should have happened a long time ago. and jon has an interesting take on this story -- the sad part is that nuclear power plants should have been pulled in light of the sa tir cal wisdom of the show, not the other way around. so to join the discussion, if you'd like, go to our blog cnn.com/ali or to my facebook or twitter account. checking the time for you right now, 22 minutes past the hour. here are some top stories. in libya, rebels appear to have regained the momentum from gadhafi forces and are now marching toward his birthplace of sirte. part of today's fighting has

centered on the main road leading into the town. over the weekend the rebels seized a number of coastal towns an oil installations. the white house says president obama will give a televised speech tonight on his case for u.s. involvement in libya. he's expected to talk about nato's decision to take command of military kmaigs operations including air strikes on the ground. the white house also says the president will discuss u.s. policy from here on in. the speech is said to start at 7:30 p.m. eastern from the national defense university in washington. cnn's coverage begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. on the housing front, things are going from bad to worse, it seems. the national vacancy rate crept up to just over 13%, according to the new census report out last week, that's up from 12% in 2007. as one analyst put it, more vacant homes equal more downward pressure on home prices. last week we started following his journey in a frigid, faraway land. cnn special correspondent and

environment lift phillippe cousteau joins us next on an update of days five and six on his expedition in the arctic. 8 r detergent. with 24% less packaging and more stain-fighting power. future friendly from p&g. with 24% less packaging and more stain-fighting power. how can expedia now save me even more on my hotel? well, hotels know they can't fill every room every day.

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welcome back. we're talking wench with cnn meteorologist chad myers. you're keeping an eye on florida. >> easy to find that state. it is kind of a stormy day

across just north of tampa, port st. lucie and the other side of the cape, pretty significant thunderstorms there and also delaying the airports just about everywhere across florida, at least at this point in time. they're not really long delays but we're getting up there. 1 hour 15 minutes at tampa, 45 minutes at ft. lauderdale and 30 minutes at orlando. this is the same system we had across the deep south over the weekend. >> the thunder nearly knocked me out of bed last night. >> it was right on top of georgia and northern florida this morning and now it has sunk all the way down. if you use your imagination, it will get into south florida eventually. it's been very dry this winter across florida. they will take all of this rainfall. this much rain may help out at least a little bit for the potential they have for wildfires for the rest of the season. >> i want to ask you quickly

about japan, the winds there. are they affecting radiation? >> winds are light today, but they have been briefly onshore. it kind of worries me because you have this stuff in the air. you don't want it blowing back 0 onshore. you want it into the outer part of the ocean and atmosphere. we had big winds. when this first starded, the winds were volatile, going from the west at 30 miles per hour. that may be a little bit of the reason why we're finding some radiation in some of these rainwaters in parts of america. >> and very quickly, our friend phillippe cousteau has been making his trek. >> no. he's stuck. >> he's been stuck in the northern canadian arctic. are his conditions going to improve at all? >> he is way up here, and, yes, for seven days they've had whiteout conditions up there. and the storms have been really brutal. this is our map where our winds for japan but works here, too. the winds die off. he gets his trip in, coming up. >> that's good news. we've been getting updates but he hasn't been able to do much. the updates nevertheless very

interesting. phillippe's been keeping us informed on his journey. here is his latest video diary. >> this is day number five, stuck in resolute. the weather is perfect down here, still not good at catland ice base. so we are just trying to bide our time. been doing some filming he here and there. but everybody is pretty frustrated at the current state of affairs. so this afternoon we decided to get some of our aggression out and head up to the top of that peak up there. should take about two hours round trip we're hoping. and should provide a fantastic view of the entire surrounding area, resolute bay and up north, et cetera. whoever thought you'd be sweating at minus 20 degrees? these clothes are really good for sitting around and dog scientific work, but not so good

for regulating body temperature. i just had to take my coat off because after about 45 minutes or so of hiking uphill, woo! it is, believe it or not, hot. we made it to the top. it's gotten a bit chillier up here so i put my coat back on. this is the marker for the highest point on this, and it looks like pretty much any mountain anywhere are arouound and it is completely covered over in crystalized ice and snow. and it's -- this is probably about as pure snow as you can find almost anywhere in the world. and it is absolutely part of this beautiful white desert that surrounds us as far as the eye can see.

it is quite a gift to be able to be up here. below me is is resolute, town of 250 people on a good day. as nice as our stay has been there and as beautiful as this view is, well, let's just say we really, really want to get out of here as soon as possible. and get up to the catland ice base. we'll see how long it takes, but hopefully it will be soon. >> to read phillippe cousteau's blog and see videos, including one on surviving an encounter with a polar bear, head to ali's blog. stopping a superbug where the infection is spreading and who is at risk.

now a look at news you may have missed. president obama explains the goals and scope of the libyan mission tonight. he'll speak to the american people from the national defense university in washington. cnn's live coverage begins right here at 7:00 eastern. and the next target of libyan rebel troops is moammar gadhafi's hometown. they're moving west to sirte where they expect a bloody battle for control. opposition fighters swept out of benghazi in the east this weekend and reclaimed towns they recently lost to gadhafi's forces. their ultimate goal is the capital tripoli. three types of plutonium have turned up near japan's fukushima nuclear plant. the power company says the radioactive element was found in the soil inside the plant grounds. they say it may come from the reactors but poses no risk to humans. the company also a0 nounsed it's restored power to the number three reactor, a step toward restarting that cooling system. a superbug is spreading

through los angeles county nursing homes and hospitals. the potentially deadly bacteria is called crkp and it's resistant to antibiotics. health officials saw 350 cases last year, most occin occurringe elderly. the best way to prevent the spread of the bacteria is through washing hands. libyan rebels marching on gadhafi's hometown. is the libyan leader finally, finally on the verge of a downfall?

they're gting to towns and taking them because by and large gadhafi's forces are pulling back. they're still holding together when they're not getting bombed by the coalition, i'm talking about more in tripoli. but the rebels are being helped enormously by the coalition. they're moving forward. they'll have a problem in sirte, the hometown of gadhafi. a lot of loyalists there, ras lanuf as well. there will be some resistance. you've got a bunch of basic -- who are fighting civilians. >> yes. what arwa damon was telling us, the residents in ras lanuf are

armed. >> then you really have civil war by definition. >> i want to ask you, we have video of this about this woman in a shocking report of a woman who allegedly said she was held and raped by gadhafi's forces. >> yes. >> and then she came, she burst in when the journalists were gathered in libya to tell her story. >> yes. dramatic footage. eman is her name. she went into the hotel where foreign media are based, said she was stopped at a checkpoint east of tripoli, then held, beaten, battered and raped for the next two days. she said by more than a dozen men. and then she went in -- when she was in the hotel trying to tell the story to reporters, gadhafi security guys got involved and you've seen the pictures, just dramatic stuff as they basically took her away. >> yeah. i mean, in the video you see they put a towel over her head. >> a bag over her head. >> they try and drag her out. one of our cameraman's cameras was broken.

>> yes. deliberately broken. the guy took it off, went into the corner, took the view finder off, the lens. >> this is important because it seems they didn't want her to speak to the journalists. >> exactly. they said they were taking her to a hospital. she thought she was going to jail. they later said she was released. there has been no sign of her. >> nic robertson made a good point. everything has been so stage-managed he says by the libyans in terms of where the reporters can go, what they can see, what they're told. and this was something that wasn't in the script for the libyans and you saw perhaps the real security apparatus of -- >> oh, yeah. they freaked out, plainly. >> beat up journalists. guy from the "financial times" got punched and kicked. >> yeah. really something. can we turn to syria, more antigovernment protests there. >> yes, there are. interest was security forces flooding into the town daraa which we've been talking about a lot lately.

there's been more reports of shooting as well. there's a sense -- i've been talking to some people in syria and those talking with people in syria as well, there's a sense of this growing. this isn't going away. there are massive pro-regime protests planned for tomorrow, but this is starting to grow. and worryingly it is becoming more sectarian. sunni versus the bashar al assad. >> yemen, just quickly, deadly blasts in an ammunition factory in yemen today. what is happening there? >> this is a town called jar. islamic militants described as al qaeda went in and basically stripped this place, a place that made ak-47s among other things, and then all the locals went in and they started stripping it, too. there were huge amounts of ammunition there. it exploded, dozens of people were killed. just a horrible, horrible thing. in a country that is already racked by violence and

unsettle -- going to say, too, this is a country that is the poorest in the middle east. 40% of people live on less than $2 a day. you know, two-thirds of the population is under the age of 24. just a terrible situation. on a bright note, we don't have time for it today, but i wanted to talk to you about prince william's supposed secret stag party. >> oh, yes! >> can we talk about it tomor w tomorrow? >> i wasn't there, but i know somebody who was. >> oh, good tease. wait until tomorrow on that one. michael, thank you. thousands of people are executed worldwide every year. find out where the united states stands when it comes to number of executions after this short break. well, i'm an avid catamaran sailor. i can my own homemade jam, apricot. and i really love my bank's raise your rate cd. i'm sorry, did you say you'd love a pay raise asap ? uh, actually, i said i love my bank's raise your rate cd. you spent 8 days lost at sea ? no, uh... you love watching your neighbors watch tv ?

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go to ra.com for your free joint profile so you can better talk to your rheumatologist about protecting your joints. thousands of people were executed around the world in 2010. just today, amnesty international released their death penalty report for last year. we want to take a look at the results and break it all down for you. first we'll look at the countries with the highest number of executions. here is the list right here, china topping the list with 1,000-plus. in fact, china is believed to have executed thousands in 2010 but you don't really know the real numbers because they're all about secrecy over its use of the death penalty. iran is more than 250 here, number two, north korea at 60. if you're looking to find the usa, here it is with 46-plus.

again, the number of executions in 2010. what's interesting here as well, if you look at libya and syria, libya with 18 plus, libya with 17-plus, compare that to the u.s., quite a bit less. and somalia is there on the bottom of the list. and many just getting back to china for a second, many of those executions had to do with nonviolent crimes, which i think is interesting to point out. we also have one more breakdown to show you here. our source on this of course is amnesty international. this shows you the countries carrying out executions from 1991-2010. if you look, i just want to call your attention to, say, 1995 there. that's about -- it looks as though where the countries peaked, about 42 or so it looked like in term of the numbers carrying out -- number of countries carrying out executions. then you can see it sort of goes up and down throughout the years, jumps up again after going down in '96, up a little bit in '97, then up again in 2001, 2002. but there's been sort of a

steady dip and then 2009 it went down and then 2010, just last year, it's gone up. but 31 countries actually abolished the death penalty in law or in practice during the last ten years. so that's an interesting look at the death penalty around the world from amnesty international. you can see the complete report by heading to ali's blog cnn.com/ali. medical marijuana, we know it's big business, but is it a business the federal government needs to get nor involved in? the "stream team" weighs in. this is going to be an interesting discussion you don't want to miss.

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welcome back. it is time now for the "stream team." we're talking about medical marijuana today. let's take a quick trip down marijuana's memory lane. it was first used, you may recall, in western medicine many, many years ago in the 1840s by an irish surgeon, w.b. o'shaughnessy learned about its products as a sedative. in 1937 the marijuana tax passed. then 1951 congress passed a law

naming cannabis as a narcotic. well, 20 years later it was named a schedule 1 drug as part of the controlled substance act. in 1978, u.s. government began distributing marijuana to patients as part of a compassionate use drug program. that program lasted until 1992. so why are we talking about it today? well, the blogs are buzzing over what they say is an update by the national convict certify institute. part of the federal government's national institutes of health. the talk is about the nci mentioning potential medical benefits of marijuana, a first by a government agency. but that's not quite right. an institute of medicine report paid for by the white house actually talked about it back it in 1999. so it's not necessarily new. and here's what the national cancer institute says about it on their web site. at present there is insufficient evidence to recommend inhaling cannabis as a treatment for cancer-related symptoms or cancer treatment-related side effects yout side the context of

well-designed clinical trials. joining me now is sirius xm radio host pete dominick and former oklahoma congressman earnest iz took. welcome. the government isn't en0 dorsing the use of medical marijuana, but they say there could be benefits for some patients. should congress remove the schedule 1 classification that says marijuana has no medical uses, this changing the penalties associated with pot? pete, let's start with you. >> yes, of course randi. i mean, the only reason not to is if you're not going to make money off of it. i think most people understand at this point it's the pharmaceutical industry and we found out the alcohol industry that is behind the opposition to legalizing marijuana, especially for medicinal purposes. it's proven to help people, i know people who use it for multiple xloer oes is. it's not addictive. a lot of the painkillers are

really, really terrible. they can kill you if you overdose on them. but pharmaceuticals make a lot of money on them, randi. >> congressman, would you like to weigh in on that? >> certainly so. i mean, remember, decades ago people were advertising supposed health benefits of tobacco. lots of medications have been pulled off the market because even though they had some benefits it was outweighed by the multiple side effects. when we're talking about the u.s. government standards, do what i did. i went a half hour ago to the white house web site to the office of national drug control policy, i pulled off a couple of their fact sheets that are on the white house web site right now, talking about the fact that, whatever may be medical benefits, are outweighed by side effects, things like causing mental illness, impairing your ability to think, impairing your memory, plus the fact that marijuana smoke has far more carcinogens than tobacco smoke does. >> so you think that outweighs the benefits, the fact you have to smoke it.

>> absolutely. and the ingredient in marijuana that has some therapeutic effect has been isolated and refined out away from the other things. it's been on the market for 25 years in a medication known as marinol. so the beneficial portion of marijuana ingredients is already available as a prescription drug without adding the 400-some-odd other chemicals in it without getting the marijuana high, which is what really a lot of people are after. and without getting all the side effects that come from smoking marijuana. >> pete, i know you want to respond to that. >> well, listen, i could argue all of those points but i would just simply say, what are the side effects of painkillers like vicodin and oxycontin. they're tremendously addictive. >> that's why they're prescription. >> of course. this would be prescription as well. i took a phone call from a veteran the other day on my radio show who had severe burns across most of his body. he tried everything.

he was getting addicted to many of the painkillers. marijuana is the only thing that helped him. unfortunately he can't get it legally. this really does help people. nobody is saying use it recreationally. or promoting it. >> there's nothing unique about marijuana that way. >> it's no conspiracy. >> let me ask you quickly. >> what's really behind this is most people want to get the high. >> no, not people with aids, cancer and ms. no. >> no? it is not -- if you read the scientific studies, you'll find that the government studies say it is not the best thing for alleviating those difficulties that people have. there are much better things on the market than so-called medical marijuana. >> right. things on the market that are oftentimes addictive. >> for more efficacious. without the so-called medical marijuana, go to the white house

web site, see what they say about how it impairs your thinking, your ability -- >> i agree. think for yourself. look it up. >> gentlemen, thank you. i'm got glalad we got one quest. thank you both. the senate is back in session to work on the budget. libya is on the agenda as well. dana bash, what are you hearing from the senate on libya today? >> reporter: very interesting, randi. we heard from house speaker john boehner last week, out front for republicans asking tough questions of the president on libya. today we heard from the top senate republican, mitch mcconnell, who actually said that unlike some of his colleagues, democrats and republicans, he believe that the president did have the authority to go ahead with the mission so far without congress' approval. but -- there's a big but here -- now there's a transfer and the mission is changing a little bit, there are a lot of questions that he and other americans have and they want to hear from the president tonight. listen to what he said.

>> as president obama addresses the nation this evening, i'll be listening like many americans for answers to the following questions. when will the u.s. combat role in the operation end? will america's commitment end in days, not weeks, as the president promised? what will be the duration of the non-combat operation and what will be the cost? what national security interest of the united states justified the risk of american life? what is the role of our country in libya's ongoing civil war? the president made clear that our combat forces' role in libya will be limited in scope and duration. tonight i hope he will reiterate that pledge or ask congress, before extending the duration or scope of our mission there. >> reporter: just to underscore that point where b when the president would have to come back to congress.

randi? >> dana bash, thank you. of course, the president we want to remind you speaks at 7:30 p.m. eastern, cnn's live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. easter eastern/4:00 p.m. my "xyz" involves a picture of a new york firefighter.

time now for my "xyz." today it's all about a single picture that caught my eye. take a look at the photo published in the "new york po " post." you can see it shows an fdny firefighter holding an image of the world trade serntd after the 9/11 attacks. the headline reads "i was there." there's just one problem. this guy wasn't there. in fact, he didn't join the fire department until 2004, years after the attacks. he posed for what he apparently thought would be a fire prevention ad. he was paid 350 bucks. in the original shot, according to the "post," he was holding a helmet but in the current ad a picture of the destroyed twin towers was photo shopped in. the law firm behind the ad has negotiated huge settlements on behalf of sickened ground zero workers and has taken heat for keeping more than a third of that settlement as payment. this image was first used last week on a flyer. the firefighter in that o,